Dr. David Jeremiah Daily Devotionals August 27 2022 : Above and Beyond Living: Have a Clean Heart :
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9
Recommended Reading: Mark 7:14-23
The Bible distinguishes between the externals and the internals of a human life. For example, when the prophet Samuel was choosing a king to replace Saul from among Jesse’s sons, God told him not to look at the outward appearance but at the heart of the candidates (1 Samuel 16:7). Likewise, when the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands and utensils at mealtime, Jesus said it was not the outward condition of a man that made him unclean, but the heart (Mark 7:1-23).
Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts” and much more (Mark 7:21-23). His words call to mind the words of one of Israel’s greatest prophets, Jeremiah, who said that above all the human heart is deceitful “and desperately wicked.” The solution to a deceitful heart is not to wash one’s hands but to receive the gift of a new heart from God. Such a gift comes when one is born again by the Spirit of God.
Above all, seek the “clean heart” that can only come by the grace of God (Psalm 51:10).
Nothing is more contrary to a heavenly hope than an earthly heart.
William Gurnall.
Credit for today’s David Jeremiah daily devotionals August 27 2022 : Turning point ministry / davidjeremiah.org